4 months and vacation highlights

Miss Calliope is four months old and doing spectacularly. She weighs 15lbs 7oz and is 25 inches long. She loves to play with toys and put them in her mouth. She chews on her fingers most of the day and drools the rest of it. She talks a lot and is starting to have a little giggle. She has started waking in the middle of the night but can generally get right back to sleep on her own. She seems like she will roll over any minute but she really doesn't like being on her belly so I'm not sure she even cares to try. Soon we will start to give her some cereal, we are so excited!

A couple of weeks ago (yep, meant to post about it earlier but life happened) we went to the cape of cod for a long weekend. We left on a rain Friday morning at about 6am and didn't return until Tuesday night. We had a great time and experienced lots of firsts for Calli and for us. It was Calli's first time at the beach and my first time breastfeeding in public without a blanket. I completely forgot the bottles and didn't keep up with pumping while we were away so when she started to wail at the lunch table I had no choice but to to feed her. We started under a blanket but it was so hot and she was having none of it; so I whipped it out in front of a super full restaurant, not to mention some close friends. Fun. We didn't adhere to Calli's sleep schedule at all and paid the price for it. She was up in the middle of the night every night and cried a bit as we walked around downtown at night. Fun. All in all we had a great time and I would do the whole thing over and not change a thing.

Now we are looking forward to the daycare transition next week!

Ciao for now,
S
xo

Four months and vacation

Random musings of a first time mom

• I smell poop all the time and can not figure out where it is.
• I make sure that baby girl is dressed super cute, is clean, well fed and rested and I am a hot mess most of the time. My hair is never done and my outfit is ill fitting, probably dirty and way too casual for the situation. Not to mention I completely forget to eat meals. 
• Parking lots should all have parking for moms. I had to practically tip baby girl out of the seat to get it into the car when someone parked too close to me.
• The same goes for tiny bathrooms. What is up with that? I went to a restaurant recently that did not have a changing table in the bathroom and where the stall was barely big enough for me to fit in with the car seat. I had to change her diaper on the couch in the waiting area. Nightmare.
• The next time you see a little baby, please fight the urge to touch them. PLEASE. I don't want to spend the rest of the day wondering where your grubby hands have been while baby girl sucks happily on her hand. 
•  Breastfeeding in public is hard enough for baby girl and me without you staring at me. Mind your own dang business please, thank you.
•  Please don't ask baby girl or me for that matter what is wrong when she is fussy. She is 16 or so weeks old and doesn't have the capability to tell us so I have to guess and your guess is as good as mine. I probably have a pretty good guess but sometimes the answer is that she is just fussy.
• There is too much to think about and plan. I'm overwhelmed and scared most of the time.  And yet, I love being Calli's mom. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
• Why oh why did I buy the car seat that is only good til 22 lbs. I bet she hits that before the year is out. Already researching car seats for the next stage.
• I feel like this list is quickly becoming a rant and vent list. Not my intention. We'll see where it takes us next...
• Baby girl is on the verge of laughing and we are so anxious to hear it. Her smiles are so great and her pre-laugh is amazing... can't wait. 

• She is also on the verge of rolling over. I can't encourage her enough.

Enough for now. Soon I'll be posting about our mini-vacation.
Have a good weekend.
Ciao
S

Summertime... and the livin' is easy

Calli stays home with hubby (sometimes to be referred to here as Dada from now on) and sometimes Nonna. Nonna comes and goes as Dada needs her and therefore Calli is SPOILED with love and attention. Nonna likes to hold Calli as she snoozes and spends most of her time entertaining her. So it's no surprise to me that on the weekends and at night Calli needs lots of entertaining and likes to be held for most of her naps. Ugh. I'm lucky that she doesn't expect to be held while she sleeps at night too!!
Nonna is a huge help to us and makes dinner almost nightly and is not adverse to the most smelly and messy diapers. But what Calli really loves is spending time with her Dada. She looks to him all the time and you can see how much she loves him.

This weekend a friend from our college days came to visit and meet Calli for the first time. It is amazing to see how much Calli loves to smile and play even with new people. She wanted to take us all out for a fancy dinner but I was hesitant not having taken Calli anywhere fancy yet. I had visions of blow-out poops and wailing and throwing her rattle (her newest toy). So we stayed home and ordered an amazing meal in. Just as fun. 

On Sunday we took her for a swim for the first time and she seemed to like it; there were no wails or crying so I'm assuming that she liked it. We also took a shower for the first time last night and again no wailing or crying so I assume she liked it. It was hard to look at her face and clean her at the same time.  Also a first, we decided to try a restaurant for dinner with just Dada and me. She was amazing. She ate her bottle in peace and played with her toys quietly while we ate. She also was sufficiently cute to all the waiters and other guests. Huge day of first that all went
super well.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer!
Ciao
Xo
S

Post baby bump

Interweb friends I am outraged!! OUTRAGED I tell you.
Most recently the royal baby was announced and all was right with the world. Then the media started applauding Kate on her bravery of showing her post baby bump!!! The baby was less than a day old and they had the nerve to call it a post baby bump!!! And how women around the world should rejoice and be proud of their "mummy tummies"!!!! What the heck has this world come to. I mean come on. This is not a note worthy situation! It's annoying enough that women have to be conscious of their baby bumps while the baby is still in there but less than a day later we should be self conscious about it!?!?!? Mummy tummies are badges of honor no matter how long we have had them and no matter how big or small they are.
I am 15 weeks post baby this week and I have lost not only the baby weight but some more on top of it. I still have a "mummy tummy" and am proud of it. I've had a "mummy tummy" for the past two years and am proud of it. I'm proud that I have had the fortune to feed my daughter with my breast milk alone and the side effect of that has been the weight loss. I haven't done anything in particular to lose the weight, it just happened. For other women that is not the case. I hate that we as a society are so caught up with this sh*t and that women can't support one another to abolish these old ways of thinking! I will not be defined by how much I weigh.
Okay, stepping down from the soap box.
Thank you, carry on with your day.
Ciao
S

3 months

Calli is three months old!

I don’t think I’ll ever be prepared enough to post on the actual date, but oh well.
Calli is three months old and having a blast. She is such a happy little lady with smiles for everyone. She has started reaching out into the world having recently discovered her hands and tries grabbing at toys, necklaces and everything else in her path. She loves to talk and tell stories. She is especially smitten with her Daddy and her Nonna these days as they are taking care of her for the summer. She is growing fast and is already into the 6 month clothes, which we have a ton of. I don’t think she will even get to wear everything once. She has recently started showing interest in toys and books. We try to read at night, but she is generally ready for bed at that point so we read at other times in the day. 

Next month she will have her first long weekend on the Cape, we are so looking forward to some sea air.

Hope you are all surviving the heat!

Happy Summer!

xo

Ciao

S

2 months old

Calli is two months old (truth be told she is actually 10 weeks). I've been slacking on writing this post because she has been keeping me busy, as has my hubby.
This is our week off together to help hubby figure out the schedule and in true Campbell fashion, hasn't worked out one bit. Oh well. I throw him to the Calli wolf come Monday, ready or not. Although are we ever truly ready? I wasn't!
Here are the Calli stats! She weighs 12 lbs 14 oz and is 24 inches long! She is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. She had to get her first shots at this last appointment and she did great. There were some tears and some sobbing but you couldn't tell if it was me or her. We both cried a bit. She didn't get a fever but she was MISERABLE. So we ended up giving her some acetaminophen to help her out. I didn't like it one bit, especially the part where she was miserable. She is generally such a good and happy baby that when she does finally scream and cry it is just terrible and worrisome. But we got through it and she was back to her happy self.
Calli likes to smile and coo. She especially likes to do this when she is being changed or fresh from a bath. She loves to suck on her fists and talk to her friends on the activity mat and in the lamb chair. She hasn't laughed yet but I think she is trying to. Lately (I hate to even write about it in case I jinx us) she has been sleeping an average of 6 hours a night. I'm constantly surprised and continue to check on her throughout the night. She also is falling into a great routine and schedule.

Thats all for now.
Ciao
xo
s